Memories
by BananaMonkeyTaco
Summary: Ruby runs away from all she's ever known after it's all destroyed. She's left with nothing but painful memories. One-shot. First story I wrote after my hiatus.


**Ok guys, this is going to be the first time I'm writing in almost six weeks so please excuse me if I'm a bit rusty. I also may not be able to write daily on account that I'm at my grandparents' house and am not able to be on my computer all the time. That coupled with me getting back into writing, will probably hinder me writing daily. I'll try to go for every couple of days though. I'm probably going to be here for at least a month and a half but after that I'll try and do this full-time.**

**This was made as of episode 16.**

It was in the middle of winter when the icy wind blew into the forest. Most of the people who lived in the area would start heading home because it signaled the start of a blizzard. But there was one small spot of red fluttering in the wind that was heading away from its home.

Ruby shuddered in the wind but she didn't care if she froze to death, she would probably have welcomed the end to her pain.

_It was Ruby's own tenth birthday. A lot of people had come to celebrate this momentous occasion. People usually blew occasions like this since there weren't many things that people could do to separate themselves from their day-to-day life. On account of this, there was a very cheerful and relaxed atmosphere around the village. Ruby's mother came to give her a present._

Ruby shook her head to dispel the memory. _Just don't think about it_ she thought to herself. She walked onward into the freezing wind, her head down. All she had was her pants, boots, shirt, and a red cloak.

_Ruby looked at the beautifully crafted red cloak. She ran and hugged her mother, careful not the ruin the cloak._

"_I love it mom," she said. "It's beautiful."_

"_I'm glad you like it Ruby," her mother replied._

Ruby wrapped the cloak tighter as a cold gust of wind blew through the trees. Ruby looked around for somewhere to sleep. _Trees trees and more trees_ Ruby thought bitterly. She was right, the forest wasn't called the Forever Forest for nothing. Many hunters had perished by an unforeseen blizzard and could not find a good enough shelter.

Suddenly Ruby heard a long howl coming from somewhere behind her. She looked behind her fearfully just as another howl came slightly to the right of the first. These were answered by other howls. _They've found me_ Ruby thought. She started running away from the source of the howling as unwanted memories sprang to the forefront of her mind.

_Someone was bringing the birthday cake to her. Ruby smiled happily at how big the cake was. She was already thinking about how she could sneak some of the cake for later when yelling could be heard in the distance. Ruby turned to look at what the commotion was about and froze in her seat._

Ruby tripped and fell in the snow. _NO! Don't think about what comes next _Ruby thought furiously. She got back up and started running blindly through the forest again. She heard another howl, this time a lot closer. Ruby glanced behind her and saw an indistinct black shape far away in the distance. She choked back tears and fell back in the snow from a gust of wind. Too tired to get up, Ruby lay there in the icy cold snow. _Let them kill me _she thought. _Anything to end the pain_.

After a few minutes she could hear a triumphant howl a few hundred meters to her left followed by running. A few minutes later she could hear another howl farther away. _They missed me _Ruby thought dully. She tried to get up but was too tired. _I should rest _she thought tiredly._ If I rest I'll get the energy I need to get up._ A few minutes later and the blizzard finally started.

_On the outskirts of the village she could she a horde of Beowulfs attacking the few guards that were on duty. There were pitifully few guards and were quickly overwhelmed. The village quickly erupted into the howls of glee from the Beowulfs and the cries and screams of pain from the villagers._

"Oh my!"

Ruby was suddenly awakened by the worried voice. Awakened is perhaps too strong of a word. Ruby was more brought to a state of semi consciousness and was just aware enough to notice that she couldn't feel most of her body. She was also barely aware enough to be scared that she didn't care that she couldn't feel anything. _Am I dead?_ She thought.

"Little girl!" the voice continued. "Are you all right?"

Ruby opened her eyes and winced at the blinding whiteness around her. She looked up slowly and saw a man in a dark jacket digging in the snow in front of her. Dully, she realized that _she _was under that snow. She groaned and let her head limp back. The man instantly stopped and looked at her with a worried expression before continuing to dig her out with renewed vigor while Ruby slipped back into unconsciousness.

_Some of the villagers rallied together to repel the horde of Beowulfs. Ruby and some others thought they might succeed to, but her mother wasn't fooled. She picked up Ruby and ran to the other side of the village._

"_Mom, where are we going?" Ruby asked._

"_You're going to run Ruby ok?" her mother replied._

_Ruby looked back and saw the last of the defenders fall. "You're coming with me right?"_

"_No," her mother said. "I'm going to make sure you can get away."_

_Ruby started to cry. "But they'll get you," she protested._

"_They're just big dogs Ruby," her mother said. "And some dogs can be pretty dumb. Remember little Teddy?"_

_Ruby smiled slightly and replied, "Yeah, he could barely walk without forgetting how to stand up."_

_They arrived at the edge of the village when Ruby's mother put her down. She looked Ruby in the eye and said, "Ruby, I want you to run away. I don't want you to stop until you've found someone to help you. You need to get away from here."_

"_But I don't want to leave without you," Ruby cried._

"_If you can run fast enough I'll be able to get away and I can find you after ok?"_

_Ruby nodded. "Ok."_

"_Now go," Ruby's mother said as she gave Ruby a gentle push._

_Ruby turned and started running. She ran away from all she knew, her friends, her home, her family, and her own mother._

"And once I dug you out, I brought you back here and introduced you to Yang," Qrow said. "Of course you were still unconscious so you probably don't remember that part. Once you woke up you two got along together right away."

Ruby nodded. "Thanks for telling me this story again Uncle Qrow."

Qrow nodded and said, "No problem Ruby. There isn't any reason why I shouldn't, quite the opposite in fact, you deserve to know."

Ruby nodded sadly. "It's just that I wish she survived."

"Well we can't change the past Ruby," Qrow said.

"I know," Ruby replied.

**Well now that was something. I can admit that that is a load of crap compared to what I usually did, but this is why I'm practicing with one-shots instead of ruining my other stories. But this almost drove me insane writing this. I originally got the inspiration from listening to Red Like Roses Part 2. I listened to it while I was writing it and near the end I wanted it to stop. It's not because it's bad or boring, quite the opposite. It gives me such a strong emotion to feel Ruby's pain, and there's a lot when you learn what the lyrics can really mean. Enduring that pain for 2 hours can drive a person to insanity, but it was mainly because I was writing the pain I felt.**

**Anyways, I hope you somehow enjoyed. Please tell me what you think I should work on or what you think would be a good one-shot that I should write.**

**See you next time ;)**


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